NEWS OF THE DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 194, 18 August 1933, Page 6

NEWS OF THE DAY.

Italian Flag Flown. The Italian flag was flown to-day from the office of the Italian Consular Agent, Winston" Buildings, in honour of the saint's day of her Majesty the Queen of Italy. Takapuna's Survey. The absence during the past fortnight of the ferry steamer Takapuna from the AucklandBavswater run has given rise to suggestions that the steamer its to be withdrawn troiti the service. Such is not the case. The Takapuna has 1 been laid up for her annual survey, and will resume her running between Auckland and Bayswater iu due cours.e ! Pearl in Oyster. While enjoying a plate of oysters in a Tiniaru restaurant, a lady was astonished to discovery pearl. At first she did not recognise the pearl, which was dull in colour, but closer examination revealed it as an article of value. A jeweller who examined the find valued it at about £5. Later customers, on learning of the find, ordered oysters, but no,further discoveries were made. Our Arcadian Isles. One American schoolboy at least has a queer view of conditions in New Zealand. Writing to a lad in South Canterbury, he had the following comments to make: "We have a depression in America; but I don't suppose you understand the meaning of that in New Zealand. My father has a wireless —also another thing you know nothing about. I understand the people of New Zealand are lazy but happy." Cadet Ship Behind Schedule. A week behind schedule, the Japanese training ship Shintoku Main is not expected to reach Auckland until the end of next week. At the beginning of the present week it was stated that the ship, which is coming from San Diego, California, would arrive to-morrow. The Shihtoku Mam is maintained by the Japanese Governmenl for the training of cadets 'from the Higher Nautical College at Kobe. From Auckland the vessel is to return to her home port. Origin of Roman Lamp. At his lecture on "The Uses of Sea Shells by Primitive People," Mr. A. W. B. Powell exhibited a specimen which he had made himself of the prototype of the oil lamp -used by the Romans. Mr. Powell had fixed a wick into the end of the long spiral shell of the whelk family and attached a cord to each end of the shell, i from which the lamp could hang horizontally with the opening upwards. Oil could be poured into the mouth of the shell to feed the wick. These primitive lamps are still used in the Shetland Islands. The design of the artistic Roman lamp in precious metals could be traced to this simple natural lamp. Tribute to Relief Workers. "Many people run down relief work as useless expenditure, and say that we do not get value for our money," said Mr. C. F. Lethaby at the annual meetiug of the Island Bay Municipal Electors' Association, Wellington. "They say that the men could be engaged to greater advantage. While we can agree with that to some extent;, there is another aspect, and I would just like to say that if anyone wants to see what relief men.can do they want to go to the job at the back of Avon Street. The work that is being done there could not be done better by the regular workmen of the City Council." Wheat from the Argentine. When one mentions the Argentine in. connection with exports, the uncomfortable thought of chilled meat immediately flashes across the niind :of the average person. But, as a matter of fact, I meat is not by any means the principal export of that republic, according to Mr. F. S. Battley, Vice-Consul for the Argentine, who spoke to members of the Optimists' Club yesterday. EL' said that in one year from the country no less than 116,000,000 tons —not bushels—of wheat were exported, and the fleet of ships necessary to cope with that amount made the fleet coming to this country appear insignificant. No Permanent Home. There is in Auckland no permanent meeting place for conciliation councils, and parties to industrial disputes are sometimes put to milch inconvenience to discover where the meeting is to take place. A sitting of a council was called in a room in the Government buildings, Customs Street, recently, and when the parties assembled at the time specified they found the room occupied by a transport licensing authority, and they had to cool their heels in the passages for nearly half an hour while another room was being found and the necessary furniture transferred. "It is time this sort of thing ended," said Mr. S. £. Wright, secretary of the Employers' Association, this morning. "Evenness of temper is an indispensable quality in conciliation proceedings, and : if disputants are subjected to inconvenience at the outset' their tempers get frayed, and the proceedings are made much more difficult." As Others See Us. While the majority of the people in the Argentine are Latins, mostly Italians and Spaniards, there is an admixture of English people, said Mr. F. S. Battley, Vice-Consul 'for the ; Argentine, addressing members of the Optimists' Club yesterday. And that that admixture had made its presence felt was shown by the fact that several idioms concerning Englishmen had ' crept into the language. Some of the expressions '■ were flattering, others not quite so flattering. < For instance, he said, when the people there : wished to promise something faithfully, they i would say: "Yes, that 1 will do, 'word of an Englishman.'" Yet again, if they made an appointment and wanted to emphasise their intention of keeping that appointment, they would assure the other party that they would be there, "English time.'' On the other hand, there were other references. The Argentines had an expression, "as drunk as an Englishman," while they also thought that only "dogs and Englishmen walked in the sun." Back-street Football. Those who fear for the future of Rugby in New Zealand ought to pay a visit to some of the back streets in the city about the hour when the School children are home from school for the afternoon. One street, close to one of the better-known primary schools, is more or less level, but a little narrower than is convenient for the purposes of football. On one side is a high hedge, and on the other a line of telegraph poles. The street surface is hard. On a recent afternoon there were about eight on each side, and the play was riot restricted by such annoyances as rules..- For one thing, there was no referee. The football itself was very old, and stuffed with rags. The pace was furious, and only slackened when someone retrieved the ball from the hedge, or when a vehicle had the impudence to want the use of the thoroughfare. Only as the light failed was the game abandoned, and the argument continued all the way home. Nerves and Golf. One of the reasons for matching the New Zealand women's golf team, which sailed by the Wanganella for Australia to-day, against a "team nf men at Titirangi yesterday was to accustom them to playing before a critical crowd, or "gallery," as it is known in golf. The first part of the ordeal awaited the team when, they tssembled on the first tee, for there camera men wished to obtain pictures of the first Dominion vomen's team selected to play a representative 2ontest with Australia. To this they willingly ;onsented, while the gallery of a couple of hunired looked on. The next part of the nerve test was the first drive, but the only one to make a mistake was Miss B. Gaisford, whose stylish practice swinging had just previously impressed the crowd. She failed to finish her swing in her accustomed manner, and the ball sliced out of bounds. Nerves are, however, not confined to the women players, and it was noticeable that B. J. Smith, the Akarana player, who met Miss Oliver Kay, was not altogether c'omfortable on the greens, and he missed a number of putts ivhich' he would most likely have got had he been oblivious of the spectators. . J